


Love Looks Not With The Eyes

by toxinspired



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M, Marauders' Era, Wrong Email Address
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-02
Updated: 2016-01-02
Packaged: 2018-05-11 05:23:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5615443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/toxinspired/pseuds/toxinspired
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>...but with the mind<br/>And therefore is wing'd Cupid painted blind" - A Midsummer's Night Dream<br/>An email meant for another sparks conversation between Sirius and Remus. As they talk, not only do they slowly become one another's muses, they slowly fall for one another as well.<br/>(Sirius is a photographer and painter, Remus is a writer)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Love Looks Not With The Eyes

**Author's Note:**

> So this is a repost because I didn't like it when I first posted it. Inspired by my own mishaps with school emails.
> 
> Remus is also blind in one eye (jokes will ensue)  
> Inspiration for Sirius' photography is Martin Hill

[Friday]

Lily slammed her hands down on the table, jostling Remus' bowl of cereal, “I'm setting you up on a blind date.”

Remus raised an eyebrow, “And here I thought I could get through one day without a blind joke.”

"Ok, maybe not a blind date. But Remus, seriously, you need to get out. You've been all depressed about what's his face for like, a year now.”

"Lils,” Remus said between bites of knock off Cheerios, “It's been two and a half weeks.”

The redhead sat down across from her best friend and roommate, shaking her head “That is equivalent to a year in dating time. Fact.”

Remus almost snorted into his milk, “I thought you were supposed to be good at maths.”

Lily reached across the table and hit Remus across the head, “My math is perfectly valid!”

"I can't believe you just hit the blind dude, Lils.”

"Blind in one eye is not blind. It's blind in one eye.”

"So eloquently put.”

"I'm not kidding though Remus,” Lily said, standing up and grabbing her coat, “You've been super mopey, go out and have some fun for once.”

The moment Lily closed the door to their apartment, Remus sighed heavily and dropped his cereal bowl into the sink. He made camp in the living room, turning on a flower documentary to serve as background noise so he could get some homework done.

Checking his email, he quickly deleted all the spam, but as he was clearing them out, another email caught his eye. A simple click and it was opened.

Subject: Raws  
To: rlupin@hogwarts .edu  
From: padfoot@email .com  
Body: Hey Ryan,  
Here are the raws, as requested. If you end up using any, let me know, I want to see the finished product.  
[7 images attached]

Remus was about to delete the email, this Ryan guy would just have to wait to get these raws or whatever. But as his mouse hovered over the trash bin icon, the thumbnails for the raws started to load.

The stark contrast in the photos was enough to get Remus to actually click on them. The white foam of a cresting wave against a dark, stormy sea; leafy oak tree canopies outlined along a pastel blue sky; bright green shoots among rich, black soil. They were all beautiful, somehow capturing life's motions at their most still moments.

They were enough to compel Remus to type up a reply.

Subject: re:Raws  
To: padfoot@email .com  
From: rlupin@hogwarts .edu  
Body: Hello,  
Sorry, I am not the R Lupin you intended to email. Your friend, Ryan might be at rlupin1 or 2 instead. But I do have to comment on the attached images, they are simply wonderful. May I ask who the photographer is?

The reply was near instantaneous.

Subject: re:re:Raws  
To: rlupin@hogwarts .edu  
From: padfoot@email .com  
Body: i'm glad u like my photos. those r only my xtras tho

Subject: re:re:re:Raws  
To: padfoot@email .com  
From: rlupin@hogwarts .edu   
Body: Well, they're marvelous and I can't even imagine how stunning the ones that make the cut are. If you have any shows coming up, I would love to see more of your work.

Subject: re:re:re:re:Raws  
To: rlupin@hogwarts .edu  
From: padfoot@ email .com  
Body: k

~

"Sirius, remind me again why I'm standing out here, collecting ice shards?”

“It's called art, Prongs. Someone so sportsy wouldn't understand, I suppose.” Sirius said, arranging the ice pieces among the branches of a tree.

The photographer stepped back and brought his camera up to his eye, framing the shot. He took a picture or two, but then clicked his tongue and went back to arranging the shards. Sirius' breath was warm enough, that if he breathed on the ice, it would melt a little. And it was cold enough outside that if Sirius stuck one melty piece to another, they would freeze back together.Currently, Sirius (with James' help) was creating an ice shard circle, carefully balanced between two branches of the tree.

James continued to complain about the temperature until Sirius stepped away from the tree, camera in hand and an intense look on his face. James fell silent as the photographer did his thing. The forest clearing was silent except for the click click click of Sirius' shutter.

"Can we get back in the car now? I'm freezing my bloody arse off.” James finally spoke again as Sirius approached the tree to disassemble his ice ring.

Sirius rolled his eyes, “No Prongs, I'm afraid your arse has frostbite. We'll need to amputate. Right here, right now. I'll use this ice shard as both a knife and an anesthetic.”

James just huffed and took the ice ring out of Sirius' hands, who was trying to take it apart one by one, and just dropped it to the ground, the pieces scattering, “It's taken apart now.”

In return for that, James got a shove (or four) on their way out of the clearing, back to the, as James called it, warm and toasty embrace of his car. Once they arrived back into an area that had actual signal, Sirius' phone buzzed with an email, interrupting James' story about one of his devil professors.

Subject: Hello, Again  
To: padfoot@email .com  
From: rlupin@hogwarts .edu

"Wow Padfoot, you're actually reading an email of yours, who’s the lucky bloke?” James questioned.

Sirius rolled his eyes once more, “None of your business, you git.”

Body: I apologize for bothering once more, but I'm afraid I can't think of anyone else to consult. To be frank, most of my friends are not artsy, so none of them can be of any assistance. Getting to my point, I'm afraid I've succumbed to writers block. Help?

"Oo you're responding to them too, do I need to pick out a tuxedo for the wedding?”

"James literally shut up and drive.”

Subject: Writer's Block Must Suck  
To: rlupin@hogwarts .edu  
From: padfoot@email .com  
Body: cant give u any advice on writing if i dont know what ur writing.

Subject: Writer's Block Does Suck  
To: padfoot@email .com  
From: rlupin@hogwarts .edu  
Body: The assigned prompt is to genre change a piece of classical literature as well as to bring it into modern times. I chose to convert A Midsummer Night's Dream into a tragedy, but I'm not quite sure how to approach Titania and Oberon.

“Well fuck.” Sirius said outloud, staring blankly down at his phone.

James attempted to crane his head over to read the email as he pulled up to a stoplight, “Well fuck what? You can’t leave me hanging like this.”

Sirius bit his lip before looking up at his best friend, “You don’t happen to know anything about Shakespearean comedies, would you?”

James laughed at Sirius the rest of the way home.

~

[Saturday]

Saturday morning found Sirius in the classic literature section of his local library, two different copies of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in his hand. ‘Should I get the original text,’ he mused to himself, ‘or the modern translation…

He ended up leaving the library with both books tucked inside his bag.

~

Remus was in the middle of making toast when his laptop pinged with a notification.

Subject: How About...  
To: rlupin@hogwarts .edu  
From: padfoot@email .com  
Body: what if titania and oberon were influential politicians? that would explain how they could pull the strings behind the scenes, u kno?

Remus felt a smile spread across his face. He certainly hadn’t expected the stranger to actually help him after he had stopped responding the other day. Toast in one hand, he typed out a response with the other.

Subject: Maybe?  
To: padfoot@email .com  
From: rlupin@hogwarts .edu  
Body: I was playing around with that idea. To be quite honest, I still don’t exactly know how I’m going to explain the love potion.

Subject: Hm…  
To: rlupin@hogwarts .edu  
From: padfoot@email .com  
Body: maybe! maybe they all met online so instead of it being a love potion, theyr tricked that one is the other. and thats b/c titania and oberon held them up or something

Subject: That Could Work  
To: padfoot@email .com  
From: rlupin@hogwarts .edu  
Body: I could see that working… Thanks for the help!

Subject: Np  
To: rlupin@hogwarts .edu  
From: padfoot@email .com  
Body: no prob, bob

Subject: re:Np  
To: padfoot@email .com  
From: rlupin@hogwarts .edu  
Body: My name’s not Bob?

Subject: re:re:Np  
To: rlupin@hogwarts .edu  
From: padfoot@email .com  
Body: but bob rhymes with prob  
btw what is ur name

Subject: No  
To: padfoot@email .com  
From: rlupin@hogwarts .edu  
Body: I’m still confused but I’ll leave it be.  
You can’t guess my name? I mean, you already have the first letter.

Subject: Frowny Face  
To: rlupin@hogwarts .edu  
From: padfoot@email .com  
Body: there r too many r names out there tho

Subject: Why Did You Type Out Frowny Face  
To: padfoot@email .com  
From: rlupin@hogwarts .edu  
Body: I’m sure you’ll get it eventually. What’s your name, then?

Subject: It Wouldn’t Let Me Put An Emoji In The Subject Bar  
To: rlupin@hogwarts .edu  
From: padfoot@email .com  
Body: no, if im not getting urs, ur not getting mine

Subject: Wow  
To: padfoot@email .com  
From: rlupin@hogwarts .edu  
Body: I’m so devastated, I won’t get to know my newfound friend’s name. Oh, woe is me! I think I may very well cry myself to sleep tonight.

Subject: re:Wow  
To: rlupin@hogwarts .edu  
From: padfoot@email .com  
Body: ur more of an ass then u’d think at first woah

Subject: Wow Is Only One Letter Away From Woe  
To: padfoot@email .com  
From: rlupin@hogwarts .edu  
Body: I like to pride myself on that fact. Everyone who only interacts with me for short periods of times thinks I’m so polite and well mannered. My friends laugh in the corner.

Subject: Woe Is You  
To: rlupin@hogwarts .edu  
From: padfoot@email .com  
Body: r u one of those ppl that old ppl love?

Subject: I Am Dying Mysterious Stranger And It’s Your Fault  
To: padfoot@email .com  
From: rlupin@hogwarts .edu  
Body: Yes, yes I am. All the old ladies on the block loved me and always gave me cookies. Though I’m not quite sure if they were “ohhh you’re so polite and kind” cookies or pity cookies…

Subject: Live! I Am Not Going To Jail For Murder  
To: rlupin@hogwarts .edu  
From: padfoot@email .com  
Body: pity cookies? should i even ask…?

Subject: But For Other Things…?  
To: padfoot@email .com  
From: rlupin@hogwarts .edu  
Body: I’m sorry, the “My Tragic Backstory feat. Oversharing” show only airs on Sunday nights provided I am adequately stuffed with sweets and at least a little buzzed.

Subject: I Am Not Going To Jail For Murder. Period.  
To: rlupin@hogwarts .edu  
From: padfoot@email .com  
Body: oh wow, u must have incredible self control. oversharing is what i do 24/7, all day, every day.

Subject: Should I be Frightened?  
To: padfoot@email .com  
From: rlupin@hogwarts .edu  
Body: A plus, good job.

James caught Sirius typing out a fervent reply on his laptop, presumably to the same person he was chatting with yesterday. He opened his mouth to make fun of his best friend, some sly comment about wedding invitations and an implication about dicks up Sirius’ ass, but caught himself when he saw the Shakespeare resting, open, by Sirius’ computer and the broad grin across his face. Clucking his tongue and shaking his head, James made his way to the kitchen, a smile of his own stretching across his lips.

~

Across town, Lily found herself in a similar situation. Remus was curled up on the couch, documentary playing in the background, as usual. He was smiling down at his laptop, even giggling every now and then. It was the most color Lily had seen in Remus’ cheeks since the other dude had dumped him. Hell, Lily hadn’t seem Remus this happy even when he was dating that ass.

She settled down on the couch next to him, surprising him and sending a furious blush across Remus’ face as he scrambled to close his laptop, switch tabs, do anything. Lily didn’t say anything and just demanded he share some of his blanket with her. She eventually drifted off to sleep to the click clack of Remus’ typing and the monotonous drone of the narrator on screen.

Subject: I’m Sorry To Cut This Off  
To: padfoot@email .com  
From: rlupin@hogwarts .edu  
Body: I really should be getting to bed. My roommate has fallen asleep against me and her head’s cutting off circulation to my hand. Goodnight, I hope you sleep well.

Subject: re:I’m Sorry To Cut This Off  
To: rlupin@hogwarts .edu  
From: padfoot@email .com  
Body: g’night Mysterious Stranger™, dont let the bedbugs bite

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed the first chapter of Love Looks Not With The Eyes!  
> The second chapter will be posted soon (I am already 1,000 words into it)  
> Find me on tumblr at: prxcen.tumblr.com


End file.
